A Wonderful World
by Toasty Kit
Summary: Once upon a time Naruto was a bubbling youth, happy and energetic. That passion was stolen from him long ago and now, at the ripe age of 15, the world is now a bland place. Can this new world that everyone is talking about bring back pieces of that child...or will he simply be subjected to as similar fate? M for safety


**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or Naruto. Now if I did I would use my various riches to fund the research necessary to create the nerve gear, which I would then use to create a VRMMORPG situated in the Naruto Universe. (Looks out into the distance longingly.)…Yeah that would be awesome….especially the part where I go all Kayaba Akihiko and turn the game into a ninja version of Sword Art Online.**

**Author's Notes: I've never seen a story like this one before so I'm going to give it a go. I know I should probably focus on my previous work (The Unforeseen Storm is still under 10 chapters and I still haven't released my revamped version of Shark Emperor) but this idea just wouldn't stop nagging me. After I wrote a few down it wasn't long before a few after thoughts spiraled into an entire plot line. **

**I still need more practice before I can even think about going professional anyways.**

**Hopefully I'll be able to pump out the chapters a lot faster than those in the past. **

**PS: I also have a Naruto x Final Fantasy XIII crossover called The Unforeseen Storm. Please give it a try if you're interested in either of those series.**

**Please enjoy and don't forget to review.**

"Hello"-talking

'Hello'-inner thoughts

"**Hello"-**Intensity/monstrous speech

hello-in game references such as skills or quests

-November 6, 2022-

It was the last school day of the week. Most of the students had lost interest during first period and instead had settled for peaking at the ticking seconds of the day like packs of vultures hovering over a fallen soul in an empty wasteland. They were anxious. For some a great deal more than others, twitching wrecks that couldn't sit still lest the tension of the whining day swallow them whole. The sole fact that it was the last period could not be called a sufficient answer for their uneasy. No there was something much more; something that a great deal of them had lost countless nights of sleep waiting for this very day.

_Sword Art Online_

The world's first virtual reality massively multiplayer role-playing game had finally hit the shelves. For the minds of the overly stimulated youths the wait of the school day crept agonizingly slow, so much so in fact that those leaning on the much more hardcore side of the gaming spectrum had failed to show up entirely.

Those unfortunate enough to be present were em braced in the torturous clicking of dawdling minute hands. The drones of their instructor fell on deaf minds too focused on the end to stay with the present. They could only think of the game. And the grief they would more than likely experience later in the day.

People had started camping outside stores the moment the online pre-order of the game had been closed. That was several weeks ago. By now that small trickle of bodies had swollen into a raging river. They would be lucky to get left a poster once the day reached its end.

However, there was one male in the room that fell contrary to popular notion. This same male raked upon the atmosphere of the classroom with a mockingly loud snore, the date holding no importance shared by his peers. And the words of one unappreciated history teacher fell short.

The young teacher let an exhausted sigh leave his throat before, with an almost instinct like precision, launched his laser pointer at a seat situated in the very left hand corner of the room, impacting its intended target with a resonating **CRACK**. The action held no reaction from the surrounding students leading one to believe that such an action was a common occurrence in this specific History class.

A lethargic moan followed the offending teenager, who got up much more slowly than one would expect after being struck by a five inch long tube of hard metal.

The teacher glowed hatefully into his blond haired student's sleepy, cerulean eyes. "Mr. Uzumaki, what's the name of the man who coined the term Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness?"

The newly identified Uzumaki yawned, whilst scratching an odd looking collection of birthmarks on his cheeks that held a striking resemblance to whiskers. "…Forty two," he answered in a bored tone. The class burst into a roar of laughter at the blond's half assed response (who still seemed too out of it to even realize he had said something absurd).

The teacher huffed, ready to increase the uncaring teen's time under the spotlight when the tell tale ring of a bell beat cut any of those thoughts short. "Class dismissed." He uttered hollowly, some of the more eager student had already been clean out the door when he said that (many still holding hoping that a copy would still be waiting for them once the lines had filed out.)

"Expect for you…Naruto."

"Is there something wrong Umino-sensei?" Naruto asked his tan skinned teacher with the scar on his nose.

"No." The history teacher answered easily, as he adjusted the ponytail from his seat at the corner of his desk. "But I shouldn't really be the one answering that question, now should I?" The statement twirked the whiskered boy's brow, showing that he was at least mildly interested in what his teacher had to say.

"You skipped class again yesterday." Naruto didn't really look like he was impressed by the attempts to lay pressure. "A lot of kids my age ditch every now and then." He scoffed.

"This isn't a joke!" Iruka bellowed out much more forcefully as he slammed a fist on to his desk. "You've been truant almost every week for the past month. And when you are here you spend all your time spacing out or sleeping. With the way you're going you won't be able to pass your exams and you'll be held back!" He took a breath to calm his nerves. "You're a good kid, but I can't help you if you're not here…"

The teacher paused to take a second to shift an eye toward the blond. A small smile creased the teen's whiskered cheeks, at least he was showing something," I'm glad that you're able to worry about me sensei but it really isn't needed." Naruto turned, stopping a foot before the door, " I'll be back up to speed in no time." He consoled solemnly before leaving the history teacher alone in his room.

"I really hope so."

Naruto sighed as he ventured down the empty halls. He stuffed a hand into his pocket, rummaging through it for a moment before pulling out a phone that looked much more out of date then what youths tended to use nowadays. It was bulkier than the newest tech and a great deal less efficient. Very few of the applications worked considering the networks that used to keep them running had long since been replaced with something much faster. In fact with how out of shape it looked it wouldn't be so far off to say that phone calls and picture were all that it was really good for.

He flipped through his tabs, scrolling down a lengthy list of names that went in alphabetical order. The most recently used one read "Hinata", a fair skinned girl with blue hair who he'd begun dating about two months prior. Naruto passed the name without hesitation, continuing down the line of people who he had lost touch with long ago. After some time he reached the end, coming to a stop at a name that he hadn't called in years. A shaky hand moved to click the name, bringing up the information of the only contact on his phone that he had bothered to link a picture to.

Naruto pressed the call button, waiting patiently for the ringing to end. It finally ended but only the autonomic rely of "This person can't reach the phone right…" greeted him. He lowered the device with a sigh, stuttering in his motion to gaze at the screen.

Crystal blue orb sparkled a little more as he stared longingly at the image on his phone, unwilling to turn away lest the image in his mind lose clarity. He could have stayed there all he wanted, for days if he wished it. That is until-

"OI look who stumbled into our neck of the woods boys!" A street punk styled voice shouted out much louder than needed.

"Ah would you look at that! If it isn't good 'ole Whisker Face!" Naruto looked up from his phone for a second to see a brown haired scruffy looking boy with red fang like markings on his cheeks grinning back at him with glee filled ferocity. He was sporting the same uniform black school outfit as him in an unkempt fashion. A vicious white beast stuck to its master's heels, baring a set of fangs at the blond.

"You drag your feet a lot more than you used to dobe. Is that big, empty head of yours weighing you down more than usual?"

"What do you want Kiba?" Naruto voiced through a scowl, making sure to remain mindful of the pack of goons circling him like hyenas over a fresh kill.

"Yo what's with that tone? Is that any way to treat an old friend?" Kiba replied with his ever-present contemptuous grin.

Friend?

Yes, they had been once upon a time. Those had been good, mirth filled times, when laughing could be easily done.

But they were also in the past.

The Kiba who he created memories with had died once the hormones started kicking in. He became a lot more aggressive and got into fights more than he used to. When they reached high school he had started up his own gang. And all the time he used to devote to having fun was replaced with the obsession he developed for throwing around the weight he thought he had.

"Whatever just get lost. I'm not in the mood to deal with you guys today." The whiskered teen growled out, finding his phone much more interesting that his ex-companion's attempts to flaunt around his machismo.

He moved to leave only to find one of Kiba's "muscle" blocking his path.

"That's where you're wrong dobe. We're the pack in charge of this joint. Do you really think it's up to some worthless beta to decide when he get to deal with an alpha?" The teen with the fangs on his cheeks made a gesture with his chin to the low life nearest to the blond. Before he even had a chance to react the thug had snatched both his brief case and his outdated phone. "No! The ones in charge do whatever the fuck they want. Weaklings like you just have to deal with living know you can't do shit!"

"Oi Boss this slab of meat has quiet the looker on this crap phone of his," called the goon who had swiped Naruto's stuff.

"Really now?" Kiba questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah a redhead. Got a nice rack too." The goon said heatedly as he ogled the image.

"Lemme see." Kiba commanded, pushing aside his underling after growing tired of half-cocked descriptions. He whistled, "Damn Naruto! This is one fine piece of tail!"

"That picture is a contact image Boss."

The feral boy beamed lewdly. "So it is~. Say dumbass, why don't you share the wealth a little bit?" Kiba's sneer only grew as he saw Naruto's horrified expression. The guy hardly flinched when they took his stuff. A far cry for the ruckus he would have made when they were younger. For him to finally show some humanity meant that this person must be pretty important to him.

"Say Boss can we join in too?" Another unintelligible individual added, causing Naruto to shuffle out of the corner of his eye, obviously terrified about what they had planned for the poor sap's delicious little friend. This feeling of power over someone insignificant…he would definitely savor it.

"Sure. But only after I'm finished first! I don't want you idiots getting in the way while I pound that fine-" Something snapped just then. Not some ungraspable, conceptualized representation of emotion.

But Kiba's nose when Naruto's fist impacted into his face.

-About Half An Hour Later-

Naruto stood in front of an apartment, completely unscathed sans the blood leaking from his knuckles.

He had left Kiba and his "alpha pack" in bloody heaps. They were nowhere near as strong as they looked (and that wasn't saying much.) The biggest challenge hadn't even been Kiba himself but that mutt of his, Akamaru. Even so that slobbering wall of fur came with more bark than bite and fell just as easily.

In all honestly he couldn't really blame them for falling so hard. It wasn't that they were bad. He was just that good. And that wasn't gloating.

Even before the dynamic Naruto/Kiba duo had split a younger Naruto would have been able to fair rather well against the brutish Kiba that he faced today. At the age of six he had already gained a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and was well on his way through several other styles such as Karate, Kung Fu, and even the fabled art of Ninjutsu. Nine years of near nothing but eating, sleeping and fighting had hardened Naruto into something that thugs like Kiba wouldn't be able to scratch for a very long time.

He pushed the thoughts of the day's previous events to rest and took a breath before unlocking the door to the apartment.

"I'm coming in." There was no response. There never was…he lived alone after all.

He didn't have a job but the allowance that his godfather, Jiraiya, was usually more than enough to cover for the twenty by twenty flat. Being a world-renowned author tended to come with some pretty deep pockets.

Jiraiya had actually offered to take the boy in but Naruto refused. He loved his godfather but he couldn't live inside that impersonal mansion pretending like the past never happened.

Naruto's apartment was furnished with a much more practical mindset than most people would find ideal. The room is simple, white walled in with a bleak sense of withdrawn expression. Very few of anything non-essential called the stark setting home, with the exception being the few ramen posters peeling at the seams.

Despite the overbearing theme of simplicity an ornate table continued to persist its existence against what would originally be an empty wall.

It was a small table, about three feet high and two feet long, covered in intricate carvings of figure that he could not make out. A single picture fame bordered by two candles was the only things on its surface.

Naruto made his way across the room to the table, tossing his brief case to the floor without heed, acquiring a match out of an adjacent cabinet to light the candles. The photo entered a new sense of clarity now that light had been introduced into the dreary little flat. A melancholy curve marred Naruto's lips.

The photo cradled the light of his day within its mahogany frame. A woman-with blazing red hair and creamy features- smiled back at him. The expression she wears, the opposite to his own, is cheerful. Her grin is wide, reaching her ears in a mischievous fashion that characterizes her so well. An immaculate creature of flawless details, with curves filling into the goldie locks zone that so many of either sex have come to desire.

His mind must have grown cloudy over the past minute. She is much more beautiful in this moment than he could recall her ever being before.

"Sorry I'm late." He uttered weakly into still air. "I ran into Kiba on the way back home. He isn't the same funny little boy you used to remember. The guy's become a real bully, picking on people just because he can." Naruto's face scrunched into a scowl as he relived the unpleasant encounter. "He tried working himself over me with that stupid gang he hangs around," he smiled, "of course I couldn't let him do that. So I decided to show him what it really means to be the son of The Red Hot Habanero."

He laughed, "You shoulda seen it! The guys just kept coming at me after I knocked Kiba's lights out. They were like 'Grrr' but I was like **POW**,** BAM**, kicking ass and taking names all over the place dattebayo!" Naruto flustered out, going into an overly dramatized tangent of hypersonic imagery loosely interwoven into an array of flailing arm motions and poorly imitated sound effects. He must have been describing the battle for a full minute before he had decided to take a breath into his strained lungs. "I must of kicked over a dozen asses before the idiots finally came to understand the awesome of Uzumaki Naruto!" He finished off brandishing the "nice guy" pose.

Naruto held the grandiose pose for few more seconds, as if awaiting a cheer of astonishment to follow the colorful tale he had just told.

There wasn't one.

And as quickly as it had come, Naruto's enthusiasm was gone. It's so easy to forget about reality at times.

"…I really miss you." His mother was dead. But at times like this, it almost felt like she was actually there to listen. The sounds of her angelic laughter could still be heard whenever he closed his eyes, alive, as she had been all those years ago. It would be some time before he would return to his lonely apartment.

The glare of his bright blue orbs sparkle much more than they had before the reminisce.

"I'm sorry." He finally spoke in a gravelly voice. "But we're going to have to cut our time short for now." A sad smile reiterated over his lips. "I promised Ero-Oji that I'd play this game he got for me using the connections he has from those dirty books of his."

He said with a roll of his eyes. "The things that people would give away for porn." In his mind she was nodding her head adamantly, a little sad that this years session would be ending so soon.

The blond walked over to his computer desk. There was a bulky, helmet looking construct resting on the desk. NerveGear: a device marking his generations Renaissance, the catalyst necessary to enter a world beyond ocean and space.

Naruto placed the device on his head as he shuffled to find a suitable position on his futon. The pale of his ceiling greeted him as he attempted to force down a recently discovered lump in his throat. The teen gave one last look at the photo, glimmering in the after glow of the candles. "I'll be back before you know it Kaa-san."

"**Link Start!"**

And before the Uzumaki could even comprehend the idea of hesitance the world of reality fell away in a rainbow of color.

-Aincrad Floor One-

In a medieval castle city the chaotic magnificence of art in its purest form erupted with a modern elegance that betrayed the overlaying scenery. The city was alive today, chiming to the serendipity of ten thousand bodies. Cobblestone streets burst with social interactions of all kinds. The meadows surrounding the sentinel like walls sparked with the glows of battle.

This is the world that one blue-eyed man with gravity defying blond hair awoke to. He seemed to be confused at first. Taking much more time to inspect his hand then one normally would.

A few more turns of the wrist had apparently bestowed the man with a new sense of confidence. And it wasn't long before he began sprinting down the arcane tracks with a newfound spring in his step.

Everywhere he went his crystal blue gems were confronted with the bliss of attractive faces. All of them, despite the grandness of variety, had on some form of vests that covered their pectorals and unremarkable blades clipped to their belts. The equipment didn't look too effect at all. And that was to be expected.

Rising up from the pitiful lower tiered gear had been a major form of drive to improve in RPG's ever since the age of pixels and bulky monitors. It still worked fairly well so there wasn't really much need to alter the whole "starter pack" system, even within a game as advanced as SAO.

It wasn't long before the "click-clack" of boots against stone gave way to more organic rustle of dirt and grass. The sight before him was an utterly breath taking one. Oceans of rolling fields far enough to reach the horizon encompassed his vision, locking up his polygon-based body with a chill that he hadn't thought existed in this world moment's prior.

A smile curved upon his lips. He could get used to a place as awe inspiring as this one.

The thought was quickly pushed aside. He had to get some leveling done before the majority of the population finished their socializing. These low level hunting grounds would be exhausted if he moved with the rest of the flock, forcing him to take on the much more challenging areas without any of the cushioning that better gear and experience could provide.

The tell tale snort of an animal reached his eardrums. His body moved on instinct, shooting behind a boulder sizable enough to conceal his crouching form. He took over the cover to gauge what he would be up against.

A wall of fur and tusk stood roughly ten feet his position. A lump large enough to impede the breaths he no longer required filled his throat. He had only viewed boars in two dimensions up until now and had never imaged them to be as big as the statistic had always told. This one seemed to even bigger than that, its shoulders standing at what he assumed had to be a full foot above his waist.

After a whole laundry list of doubts ran through his mind one fact stood tall above the insecurities.

This monster was the first one outside of the Starting City. And more than likely intended to be the first battle that players would have in virtual reality, making it the equivalent of slimes in the more traditional games. The spiky haired blond rose from his cover with the confidence of the world behind his back. There was no way something this like this would take him down even at his meager level.

A battle cry rang throughout the field as he brandished his weapon, charging at the unsuspecting beast. He positioned the plain looking blade over his shoulder like he had seen player do hundreds of times during late night escapades of reviewing gameplay footage. A film of blue encompassed the dull metal in an ethereal glow.

The game's systems enveloped his body, bringing about the unique sensations he'd only heard about up until now. An unknown power spiraled within him like a malfunctioning water main ready to burst. However, instead of water, a crackle of cobalt lightning followed his blade in streams of horizontal light.

Sword Skill

The action was gloriously addictive. The technique he'd just preformed had only been a beginner move, simple, hardly granting the registration of SAO's system assist at all.

Yet, he could already feel his body crying out for the predetermined move to be repeated again and again. He could only imagine the euphoria he'd experience when the higher ranked movements fell under his possession.

His first fight in fulldrive, on sheer quality, such a moment was bound to burn into his memories forever…

…that is if he had actually struck his intended target.

Sword Art Online is a game built with the main focus being bladed weapons. While there are weapons capable of longer range magic or guns are unheard of. Such an ambitious concept would be subject to major criticism on most cases due to the fact that it'd be forcing the player to rely on their own technique to get by, giving physically adept individuals an unfair advantage. Argus, the creators of Sword Art Onlineas well as the NerveGear, preceded this scrutiny before it occurred, developing a system that would only require the knowledge of the initial movements before carrying the player through the "Sword Skill" automatically, balancing the general combat as well as providing the exhilarating sensations that comes with completing a skill.

The draw back to this feature is that once one falls under the parameters of a skill it must be finished, demanding that players choose when to use their moves wisely lest they become locked into an unsavory situation.

Which is exactly what had happened, his blade striking at the space where the boar had been rather where it would be.

The boar, now aware of its foe, squealed in rage, head butting the new player before he had time to readjust to having control of his body once more. The blow was not very powerful but, nonetheless, still managed to send the blond flying, causing him to be reacquainted with the boulder he had been hiding behind much more violently than he would have like. The blue-eyed man struggled to get to his feet with a curse. The impact from the collision had done enough damage to lower his health into the yellow.

Not a very good start to say the least.

The spiky haired teen, after a great deal of profanity, managed to force himself into a shaky stance. Only to be sent back into the ground via a charge the boar had been preparing while he had been struggling to feel of non-existent pain. The player's expression froze into a look of shock, as the health bar that he was so sure would remain active continued to crawl past the yellow and into the red before finally coming to a stop at zero.

'Damn critical hits…' were his last thoughts before his body shattered into glass.

A man of muscular build with straight red hair wearing an orange and black variation of the starter clothing had seen the whole thing from his position on an overlooking road.

He shook his head once the scene had reached fruition. While hunting through these meadows he had seen many things. A little girl defeating a wolf with her dagger, a brunet teaching a redhead the basic, a beautiful woman with shoulder length conflicting pink hair taking on a pack of boars.

But none had been more pitiful than what he had just seen. He almost felt ashamed watching the performance considering how closely that guy's avatar mirrored his real self.

A predatory growl broke Naruto from the extended embarrassment. The in-game redhead turned away from the dispersing polygons to be greeted by the piercing stare of a red-eyed wolf. The beast snapped at Naruto's position, as if it were challenging him to draw him weapon.

He didn't.

Like a bullet the wolf shot toward him, eager to sink its teeth into the supple digitized flesh of a new player.

If there were anyone else around they would be absolutely astounded at what happened next.

Just as the enemy's attack seemed too close to end a lightly tanned hand blurred into motion, catching the wolf in its theoretical windpipe before the AI had a chance to respond to the redheads movements. The sudden halt of momentum tossed the animal end over end before coming to a stop on its back. Struggles to right its body were ended as a black boot pinned the beast followed by a flash of metal that imbedded itself into the skull. There was no shine of light masking attack, which was uncharacteristic of the starting one-hit skills "slant" or "horizontal".

The show of force that had taken the enemy down in under five whole seconds was all him.

The block of white etched with the words "Congratulations!" erected before the shower of blue lights, creating an interesting contrast with the now orange sky and somber clouds. A deep **GONG **droned on, drowning out the overlapping noise with its haunting tyranny.

"I've been playing this game for quiet a while…" He said as he turned his pale blue eyes over the setting sun.

It had honestly been really fun for him. Much more so than he thought it would be. In a world as safe as the one Naruto called home it was pretty rare for him to use his fighting prowess in anything other than sparring. Sure he had run-ins with people like Kiba every now and then but even in those brawls he had to hold back quiet a lot.

He wanted to kick their asses not kill them.

Those rule don't apply here. He could finally use the technique he's been training for so long against something other than wood blocks and punching bags. "After I give Kaa-san some flowers I'll definitely be coming back."

His hand swept across the air when a blinding white blanked out the rolling orange-beamed hills of Aincrad.

-The Starting City-

Naruto with his hand still ready to bring up the status window blinked in surprise at the sudden change of scenery. An astounding number of unrealistically perfect people fill the courtyard to the brim, more and more flashing in with each passing second. He looked around to inspect their faces to only be met with expression mimicking his own clueless one.

"What's going on?"

"Is this part of the launch event?"

As if to answer their quizzical pleas a red block reading "System Announcement" blinked into existence. The sigh of relief coming from a girl of to his left ended mid way as the block replicated until it swallowed up the sky in an ominous crimson. Red blood like ooze dripped from the cracks in the tiles, collecting in the sky until it was one big mass. The liquid began to solidify, taking the shape of massive hooded specter.

"What's a Game Master doing here?"

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

The remark sounded ludicrous at first but under quick investigation the panic of the voice soon became true. Shadows emits by the mantle held no substance within their depths, garnering a feeling similar to an invisible hand grasping at his beating heart.

"**Player, welcome to my world,"** the phantom boomed in a voice that sounded like it would be much softer if heard in person. **"I am Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the only person who can control this would." **Naruto raise an eyebrow at the epic display. He had heard many things about the man in passing, and while most of them were good, they weren't enough to mark this figure as anything memorable.

"**I trust that you have already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu."** In truth he had not been aware of such a glaring flaw. Luckily this admin had the audacity to gather everyone to the location before anyone began to panic. This man had saved him from a great deal of anxiety that he really didn't need right now. 'This guy better fix the problem fast'. It's about 5:40 in the real world and Naruto still hadn't visited his mother's grave like he always did at this time of the year. Hopefully he it wouldn't be too dark once he got out.

"**However, this is not a malfunction."** 'Wait! What!?' **"I repeat. This is not a malfunction but an original feature of Sword Art Online."**

"Some feature!" A feminine voice growled out to his right. It was the same pink haired girl who he saw taking on the huge pack of monsters earlier. Obviously the lacking logout button had left her smitten for quite a while. The scowl she wore, enhanced by the systems over expression of emotions, marring her beautiful visage. "We have lives to get back to!"

Her outcry seemed to spur on the grievances of the surrounding populous, who quickly latched on to her statement, launching curses of their own at the faceless cloak and gloves.

"**No one on the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear."** The aptly called Game Master continued, having either ignoring the protest or simply not registering them. **"Should this be attempted the NerveGear will emit a powerful dose of microwave radiation, destroying the brain and ending your life."** The calls for revolt quickly dried up. A few whispers of "stop joking around" or "what's he talking about" echoed around him with much less clarity than the players had expressed previously.

"**Unfortunately, the friends and family members of several players have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NerveGear." **Over a dozen holographic panels orbited the floating "man", one of them depicting a teenage girl bawling into the embrace of a middle age woman. **"As a result, 213 players have been permanently retired from Aincrad as well as the real world."** The tiles of screens cycled once again, landing over headlines like those he would see on emergency broadcasts. **"As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting of this incident and the many deaths. Thus, you can now assume that the dangers of the NerveGear being removed to be greatly reduced. Please relax and work hard to clear the game."**

"Clear the game?" Naruto's voice mustered out, coming across as a great degree more fragile than he had intended. "How can he say such a thing when he just blatantly told us that people have died because of what we have stuck to our heads?"

"**However, do take note of this." **The red phantom added, as if his last message had not been enough salt in the wound already. **"You can no longer respond in this game. Once your HP reaches 0, your avatar will be permanently erased. At the same time the NerveGear will destroy your brain." **The effect was instantaneous, rippling like a droplet against a placid body of water.

"This is bullshit! Let us out right now!"

"There's no way I can believe something like that!"

Naruto couldn't believe it either. The whole thing was ridiculous. How could dying in a game cause someone to die in real life? None of it made sense. However, despite, his doubts, he knew for a fact that this Kayaba Akihiko was telling the truth. Or at least what he believed to be true. The infallibility with which he presented his case was too smooth for there to be any deceit. The man truly believes in what he says.

…If what he claims really is true…

Naruto's pale blue orbs widened to the point of falling from their sockets. A hand shot to his mouth in a futile attempt to curve the overbearing sense of nausea.

What Kayaba Akihiko just said had not been a hundred percent fact.

There had been one more who had been left unaccounted for…

…A blond man earlier that day. He had been a rather pitiful excuse for a warrior, falling to the first enemy in his sights before he had the chance to roam away from the first set of hunting grounds. Naruto had allowed that man to take the punish, assuming that he would be back at the Starting City grumbling about how easily he had been defeated. But there would be no sulking from that man…or anything at all for that matter.

He was gone.

And Naruto had let it happen.

Naruto had barely heard the madman's following words, tuning in just in time here the words the gift that he had provide. Naruto had felt the strongest urge simply cuss out the entity before him. For all he knew this item could be a bomb that'd kill everyone in the square. A chorus of jingles filled the expanse to the point that Naruto felt like he had no other choice than to comply with the will of a psycho. The in-game redhead slashed his finger across the air to bring up the menu, shifting through it to materialize the so-called "gift". A small rectangular object came into existence within his hands.

"A mirror?"

Naruto looked deep into the reflection with the cold eyes he had chosen for his avatar, glaring back with a defiance that threatened to burst from him like an active volcano. A light that came from nowhere suddenly surrounded him, causing a cry of surprise to escape him. Similar sounds called around him.

The light dissipated as abruptly as it had come.

Naruto blinked at the rush of new faces. The once beautiful crowd of gamers was gone, replaced by a batch possessing the flaws of humanity.

He turned to his left; finding that what had once been a busty brunet was now dorky looking teenager baring an acne scarred face. He looked into the mirror once more. What greeted him was not a redhead with sharp features and piecing eyes, but a much rounder, whisker one with spiky blond hair and eyes so blue that they gave an almost childish quality to them. His face.

Screams ensued. No doubt due to the awkward situations that came with discovering that the people you had gone accustomed to weren't who they played themselves out to be.

The whole thing would have been pretty humorous had the situation been different.

"**All of you are probably wondering why. Why would Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?" **The first and last ten thousand to play the game waited with anticipation; surely there had to been some form of hostile drive behind all of this. **"My goal has already been achieved. I wanted to create my own world that I can observe and admire. That is why I made Sword Art Online. And now, it has been fulfilled."**

"**This concludes the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. I wish every player the best of luck." **Just like that the curtain of despair had been lifted to leave those behind it to fend for themselves, doing nothing to mediate the storm destined to come.

"Eeeeeeaaaaahhhhhh!" A young girl scream at the top of her lungs, tearing away the corner stone that held back the raw emotion of ten thousand panicked souls.

XxX

Naruto sprinted down the empty cobblestone streets with a purpose. This digital body of his didn't need to breathe but even so he continued to guzzle down gulps of imaginary air by the gallon, his racing mind way too far gone to register the lack of utility for a once inconsequential bodily function.

A sense of guilt welled in him. He had abandoned his fellow players. Running away with no other motivation than to escape the cries of terror. He could still hear them, their blood curdling anguish reverberating off the stone walls like a poison that that made those unfortunate enough to listen to want nothing more than to curl into ones self and wallow out the rest of days.

In all of his years on Earth he had never heard such a horrible sound. No wait. The first of that wasn't exactly right. This place isn't the smog-choked city he had grown up. This is Aincrad, a world that he was only meant to bare existence in short collections of hours a couple times a week.

Only he no longer had that choice.

Whether he chose to acknowledge it or not this place-where joy could just as easily flip to sorrow- is his home now. There was no disputing that single thread of fact.

He would have to make a living somehow. And if that meant fight every day until he could take his first real breathes again then he was going to do it.

There are no ifs, ands, or buts.

He would clear this game if he had to tear off his own limbs to do it. This is a promise of a lifetime! And he always kept his promises. Or his name wasn't Uzumaki Naruto! Son of Uzumaki Kushina and the best damn martial artist on this side of the hemisphere!

Screw Kayaba and this death game of his! Sure the possibility of dying was scary but he lived in a world where a person could keel over at the drop of a hat. This kind of thing was nothing. He could handle whatever this stupid game threw at him.

"Now if only some one could tell me where I am…" Naruto, while on his internal monolog had sprinted clear out of the walls of the Starting City and into the surround wilds on a path he had not taken on his earlier hunting excursion.

A rustle of the corner of his eye reigned control of the blond's senses. His hand immediately hovered over the weapon sitting diagonally on his back, ready for the potential enemy to reveal himself. A crop of brown hair emerged from the undergrowth, causing Naruto to almost drop the rigidness of his form. He was quick to re-steel his features. People tended to lose sight of things quiet often during a crisis. Just because this person is in the same boat doesn't mean they're not dangerous.

As the player icon came into view the distinct sound of a weapon being draw rang, causing the newcomers eyes to bulge at the sudden proximity of a blade to his neck.

"Who are you?" Naruto interrogated with well-placed force, influencing the unknown boy of about fourteen years to raise his arms in defeat. The brunet gulped, "H-Hey there's no need to be so-"

"Who are you!?" Naruto repeated, raising his voice to reinforce his severity. The boy nearly jumped at his tone. "Coper, that's my name." The newly identified Coper gulped at the lack of reprieve. "I was making my way over to the next village for a quest. I didn't know there were already other people out here!" He spoke in a hurried tone.

Naruto looked intrigued by the information, "You know about the next area?" Coper nodded timidly, "It's a small place by the name of Horunka Village. I was a beta tester so I know the way pretty well." The blade finally left the boy's throat.

"Lead the way." The whiskered teen more ordered than asked. A conflicted look made its way to Coper's visage before he finally decided to press onward.

XxX

The sun had fallen over Aincrad. The sky less night of the floating castle is not a pitch black one. Most of the immediate vicinity found itself illuminated by the shallow glow that surrounded every player in the dark. Even so, this comfort did little to alleviate the human mind's capability to imagine what may lie behind the murk.

A certain black haired boy with soft qualities more customary of females found himself in this kind of situation. It took everything within him to will his body to power through all of the little noises that surrounded him at octaves more prevalent then any thing he had experienced in the real world. His newly implemented skill did nothing to quell his nerves. The likes of which still hadn't smoothed out despite the length of time that had passed since conclusion of the "tutorial".

Those hours of barely stifle-able panic had been used to reach the next town before the inevitable rush that would ensue once the resources surrounding the Starting City grew scarce. Using the knowledge he had gleamed through sheer repetition he was able to avoid the more dangerous areas and made it to town without a scratch, stocking up on much needed supplies as well as securing a quest along the way.

The task in question was a fairly simple snatch and grab quest that could be done even at a level as low as his. The factor that made this particular quest difficult was not the challenge, but the endurance that he'd have to stretch for the long grind ahead.

A specific quest item dropped by a very specific monster was required before the quest could be turned in. This monster had a ridiculous low spawn chance, causing players to rush through plethoras of very similar enemies before it would make its appearance. Under normal circumstances this quest would be an easy one, with all the dummy enemies being spread out amongst a party to help curve the length of time. Unfortunately, with his archetype as a solo player already realized such an option was not available to him.

Red cursors suddenly blipped into his vision, becoming visible long before the enemy came into view thanks to the search skill he had equipped as one of the two allocated to him.

One of the beast waddled into sight.

A Little Nepent, an ironically named vegetative monstrosities standing as tall as a man with pitcher like bodies supported by a countless array of roots that function in a manner similar to legs. They had no eyes and attacked via swipes from razor shape vines and infrequent snaps from maniacal smiles atop their tube like bodies.

The black haired boy was upon the creature, striking at the stalk dangling from its head with the single hit sword skill horizontal before it had a chance to react to his presence.

The plant monster screeched in shock at the attack directed at its weak point. The strike doled out much more damage that normal, carrying the monster's health into the yellow (most likely due to a critical hit).

An overhead strike passed by his body by mere centimeters and he countered with another clean cut across the exposed stalk. He had always enjoyed taking on these kinds of monsters. Their patterns were easy to grow accustomed to and lacked the sword skills that made humanoid creatures like goblins and kobolds so dangerous.

A horizontal whip entered his peripherals too close to dodge. The flat of the starting blade intercepted the attack, holding it only for a moment before batting the appendage away to enter the monsters hideous mug, ending its life in a shower of blue. The entire confrontation had lasted a grand total of twenty seconds.

Another pair of Nepent crept in with a swaying trot. He charged the nearest one. A load of noxious liquid pooled in its mouth before firing. The young swordsman was too far into his rush to backtrack without receiving a healthy amount of the ooze on his person. And if enough were to cover him he would fall under its effects, a minor hindrance but a potentially tragic one for a solo player such as himself. He did the unthinkable upping his speed and shrinking the distance between him and the bullet of liquid.

Just at it seemed too late his ankle turned sharply, using the momentum of his run to weave by without getting a drop on him. The snapping maw was still agape from its previous attack, leaving him room to deal two consecutive blows without worry. Forty percent of its health had vanished.

Its body lit up into a flashing yellow and the waving vines sagged, indicating that it had been stunned. Such a thing was a rare occurrence but he didn't dare question it, using this saving grace to launch a swift combo to the monster's stock sending the remains of the bar well over the edge without the use of any skills. And it too burst into flash of dissipating polygons.

He moved on to the next. That last Little Nepent had to be a number well into its twenties. From what he was able to determine last time the percentage had been well under one percent. Those statistics could very well have changed but there was no way for him to know that. If completed he would be rewarded with the Anneal Blade, a powerful weapon that he knew would carry him well up into the third floor.

However that fact alone wouldn't spawn a Flowering Little Nepent and it definitely wouldn't help to ease the linger frustration piling on his mind.

The sword within his grasp crackled to life with a horizontal, imbedding into the creature and draining the last of its health. The body was wrapped in a curtain of blue before bursting.

The experience acquired from the monster counted down methodically, adding on just enough from his previous escapades to fill up his gauge to carry him to the next level with a short, jovial beat.

He brought up the menu, showing that he had three points to spend, distributing two into Strength and one into Dexterity. The lack of magic in SAO left those two attributes as the only real ones of value, which made sifting through level rewards quick and easy.

The sound of clapping rang into the clearing. The black haired swordsman cursed his inattention, turning sharply to find a boy of similar age staring back at him. He had brown hair and was wearing leather armor and a buckler that could be bought from the nearest town vendor. Another blue cursor fell in behind the clapping brunet, revealing a blond dawned in an identical set of armor.

The brunet let off an awkward smile, "That was really good…you must be pretty skilled to get here so fast that were able to reach level two already."

The black haired boy returned the gesture, "…It's not that impressive if you know the way." In truth had he not been subject to such copious amounts of trial and error (death and reincarnation) during the beta stage he probably wouldn't have been able to survive the journey. "True, but it's still pretty tricky if you're not careful." The burnet replied in knowledgeable tone that caused the blond off in the corner to snort displeasingly, more than likely do to an "inconvenience" that had occurred along the way.

He didn't let the act faze him, instead choosing to hold a hand out to his fellow player. "The name is Coper by the way." The black haired boy stared back at the appendage apprehensively. It didn't feel right to accept such a thing after he had abandoned his first friend in this world, a curved sword user by the name of Klein, so easily. After some time he finally took it, "Kirito."

Kirito gave a glance at the blond, "What about him?" Coper met his stare before shrugging, "No idea," a sheepish grin made its way to him, "…I was actually kinda forced to take him along and he never gave me his name."

The third member of the group didn't look like he took very kindly to being answered for, "That's because you never asked." In truth Coper had asked a lot of questions, so many in fact that half way the blond had gotten sick of it and just stopped talking all together. Surprisingly none of that lengthy interrogation had involved any personal information. And was mostly spent probing his general current, and previous, knowledge of all things technological.

"My name is Uzum-…ugh I mean Nagato." He had almost used his birth name by accident. Thankfully he remembered he went by the main character in Jiraiya's book The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi at the last second.

With introduction over with Coper turned back to Kirito, "Hey you're here for the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest right?" The daughter of a woman in Horunka Village had been plagued by a debilitating illness. The only know cure was the juice of a Little Nepent Ovule an item that could only drop from the variation of the beast with a flower atop its head. Kirito simply nodded, causing Coper to brighten up much more than he should have, "Cool…eh Nagato and I took up the same quest. If we work together getting the quest item should be a lot easier to come by." Kirito hesitated to answer.

The spawn rate for Flowering Little Nepents in the general goes up slightly every time a normal one is killed. The combined power of three players could potentially improve their chances greatly.

In the beta having more players tended to be an improvement, spreading out the equipment durability drain as well as providing security against status ailments.

Then again this isn't the beta. Several things were bound to change between testing and launch.

Kirito reopened his menu to create a party. Help had proved to be the difference between life and death on most cases. What made Sword Art Online any different?

"E-eh…you don't have to do that." Coper said right before the confirm button could be pressed, causing Kirito take on a much more perplexed look. "I know you probably don't trust me so I don't want to make you're being forced into anything." The brunet made a gesture to the only member not actively contributing to the conversation. "I didn't party up with that guy anyway." Coper's voice suddenly lowered moved closer to his impromptu companion's ear, "Between you and me he seems really nooby." The last word in the burnet's statement made him nearly blanch.

New players, or noobs, usually didn't know much about the game they were playing and were notorious for being unacceptably bad. Such a thing was to be accepted. When shifting to a new game a player usually undergoes a period of incompetence that can take up a great deal of time to shake off, with some "exceptional" individuals carrying that ignorance all the way into later levels. This "noob" period has the potential to be particularly long in SAO when compared to other games considering the technological gape between traditional medians and fulldrive.

However, the way Coper spoke of the blond was not of a PC or consol gamer transitioning to the NerveGear but more along the lines of someone who has never played an online videogame before. In this world, where lost HP is more than just a minor inconvenience, the mindset of a hardcore gamer would prove invaluable. If this "Nagato" person doesn't even have that basic knowledge…

…Well let's just say his thoughts on the future were picturing two turning in the quest rather than three.

XxX

The sound of exasperated grunts and metal whizzing threw air filled the forest.

Days had passed since the trio had made their little pact. Or at least that's what it felt like. The difference between an hour and a minute had faded in relevance when the vulnerability that comes with checking such a mundane thing bares the potential to seal one's fate.

The starting swords they had rushed in with had clipped and dulled under their genocide on all things plant. Over a hundred and fifty must have fallen to the eager players without a single one sporting the flower that they desired.

Things were going well. Almost too well considering the way he had predicted things to turn out.

Coper, who he had expected had been a fellow beta tester due to his smooth movements and extensive knowledge, had just recently vanquished a Nepent and had moved on to the next one with his buckler raised. He personally thought the boy focused too much on defense. That preference held little worry as long has he got the job done.

His thoughts then shifted to the blond teen with whiskers on his cheeks. Nagato had been…surprising. Whenever they spoke (which was rarely) he tended to show confusion to the terminology that he and Coper spewed about, proving that the blond had either never played an MMO or hadn't played enough to grasp the meaning to words like "Raid" or "Guild".

With that being said what the blond made up his lack of knowledge with pure battle prowess. Once while searching for a group of newly spawned enemies he had allowed himself to watch the strange teen fight. He was taking a group of four head on while holding his sword in a reversed grip that was more characteristic of dagger users. In those twenty seconds he had witness the blond pull of strikes he had previously thought of as impossible outside of system assist, moving with a fluidity that put both of the would be beta testers to shame.

If the teen hadn't at one point asked, "What are sword skills?" he would have had to rethink his unofficial role of "Farthest in The Beta" because this guy would have definitely made it past the eighth floor.

"Oi Kirito, Nagato," the brunet called in a hushed tone. The pair quickly finished their individual fights before jogging over to the sword and shield user. Once they had all been assembled Coper final pointed over to an area deep in the undergrowth. They strained their eyes to spot just what it was the third member of their group had spotted.

Their orbs nearly jumped out of their skulls with what lumbered out from behind a tree. Two Little Nepents, one white and one green came into view. And the white one had a bright red flower perched on its head. Nagato would have charged the pair of monsters right then and there had it not been for the appendage the shot to halt him.

Blue orbs met brown to question its hubris, "You can't just run in to that fight." An odd look drew on Nagato's face, "Why not?" Coper snorted, forgetting that after all the fighting that their friend wasn't as versed on Aincrad as they would have liked. "Tell me what's different about the other one?"

The blond's eyes narrowed into slits, "Uh…it's green." Coper rolled his eyes, "And?" Nagato took another look, "…It has a red ball on its head."

"That isn't a ball that's a fruit." Kirito sensing his whiskered companion's confusion decided to clarify, "Green Little Nepents are trap monsters. If you're not careful you may cause the fruit to burst, releasing a pheromone that'll attract every single Little Nepent in the area." The ominous declaration caused the blond to release an audible gulping noise.

His mother may have taught him to face the world with brass balls hanging out but that didn't mean he was particularly fond of the idea of having to face an army of plant monsters. "…W-What should we do then?"

Coper was the one to step forward, "As long as nothing touches the fruit nothing should happen. I'll draw it away so that it doesn't get in the way when you guys fight the flowering one. After you get the quest item I should be able to take it out safely."

Kirito nodded, "We'll be counting on you for this one." Hopefully this would be the first of many times he would be able to say that phrase confidently.

Coper rushed ahead, cutting at the Green Nepent's side to garner its attention. The brunet hunkered down behind his buckler, allowing every single attack to rebound off his shield as he led the creature away from its companion.

Once the coast was clear the remaining swordsmen rushed their target with a ferocity they didn't even know they had. A cursor that held a slightly darker red than any of the previous beast stared back at them mockingly, as if taunting them in their ability to complete the quest.

Kirito, not one to take insults lying down, retorted with a horizontal that shaved off twenty percent of on the spot. He then retreated backward to allow his blond comrade to take his place.

The monster's AI looked startled by the sudden change. Reacting slowly as it adjusted to the new parameters that its new opponent placed. This short instant was enough time for Naruto to assault with a quick pair of reverse bladed strikes before repeating his partner's previous actions.

Kirito's lips curved into a smile. 'Nagato catches on pretty fast'. During the entire time they had been fighting together not once did he ever mention the uses of switch to confuse enemies. Yet, here he was reacting to Kirito's motions like a player with a longer collection of hours under their belt.

This continued again and again. The pair's combo wiped out any possible attempts at retaliation from the Flowering Little Nepent. The Cardinal's AI staining to find an opening in their unending assault, for they would not stop. Not when the possibility of ending this chapter in what was bound to be a lengthy nightmare so near its closing.

A final strike from Naruto's sword sealed the deal. As the creature erased from existence a red ball no bigger than a plum fell to their feet.

The duo let out harmonized sighs as they unconsciously bumped fist. Kirito leaned down to retrieve the fruits of their labor. He stared at it oddly. Such an insignificant looking thing seemed so anti-climactic after so much grueling work. He placed the item in his pouch. It would have been safer in his personal inventory but there was no time to struggle through menus right now.

The jog to Coper's position seemed much longer than it should have been. The brunet in question fended off a vine attack from the nearly dead AI.

Time seemed to stop as he gazed back at them with blank eyes.

"Sorry guys…"

A crack of a sword skill filled the clearing. Slant to be precise: a single hit skill with near identical specifications to horizontal beyond the fact that it is diagonal. None of them had used the technique the entire time.

It would have been too risky if a fruit baring Little Nepent were anywhere near them.

The pulsing, red mass above the beast head burst along with the polygons, releasing a sickly brown cloud of gas into the air.

"W-Why did Coper just do that?" Nagato worded rhetorically. The answer was quiet clear when red blips began amassing before his search skill. "Monster PK…", or the act of killing another player using enemy mobs, had been popular during the beta. And was a tactic that required full intentions when committing. What their so-called "ally" had just done had no way of being an accident. He simply had the same will to survive they do, only his means to and end involve a much darker path.

A wall of writhing vegetation formed in on their prey. And Coper was nowhere to be found. The fact that they had not partied together left no way to track the traitor's movements. The hiding skill would allow for such a thing to be possible. Which would explain how the brunet was able to sneak up on him before.

It was a must have for a solo player. "Coper…you don't know about it, do you?" Kirito finally mustered out behind shadowed eyes. There had been one reason why he had chosen the search skill over hiding for this quest. "Enemies with no eyes aren't affected by the skill!" He barked out before charging into the horde with a death curdling yell, his companion following his example soon after. He could only hope the fool was still within range to hear his last statement.

Their odds were not favorable.

Running, despite how much their bodies wanted to, was not an option. They were surrounded and the moment they turned their backs it would already be too late.

The durability of their weapons had reached below the half way point some time ago and felt like bars of glass as they hacked and slashed a path through the waves of plants.

They didn't dare to cease their assault. If one Nepent's attacks hit the blow would momentarily stun them. With this many around it would be far too easy to be boxed into a voiced chain of attack and stun from the masses of enemies.

Even with such a myriad of plants charging them the pair couldn't help but feel like there were less of them then there should be. No doubt a fraction of the force had been pulled away to Coper's position. Who was probably panicking over the amount of enemies flocking to him despite being completely hidden. The duo did not question this. Doing so would cause too long of gape between strikes that they could not afford.

XxX

Both Nagato and Kirito each vanquished a beast before their swords finally conceding to the pressure and scattering into nothingness.

None of the Little Nepents that had been summoned were left.

Two red ovules lay before the pair simply for irony's sake. Nagato pocketed one of them while Kirito grabbed the other; drifting away into the part of the forest they had just risked their lives getting out of.

They stopped once a buckler and blade came into view, so worn that not even the most desperate of traveler would retrieve them, their presence out of place amongst the forestry.

The black haired swordsman tossed the ovule in his hand on to the equipment, "Here's your share," before stumbling back toward the village. Naruto looked on at his companion's pitiful gait, gesturing to the three items one last time before moving on.

They wouldn't last long but with there being no way to collect a corpse this should suffice as a grave marker…

Naruto sighed a sigh that shook his whole body. While dying in the real world was a tangible thing it was always a very far away one. No one really thought about passing at any second.

Today was a good reminder just how close to the real world this virtual one actually is.

XxX

Author's Note: I hope this opening chapter effectively captured your interest. Please review. Feel free to ask any questions as well. I answer all of them.


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